ASITE SELECTS BUILDING INFORMATION WAREHOUSE AS ITS FIRST COLLABORATIVE TOOL PROVIDER

02 April 2001

Asite, the construction industry Internet portal, has adopted Building Information Warehouse (BIW) technology as its first project collaboration tool. Under the deal, clients subscribing to Asite will be able to choose to use BIW's Information Channel to facilitate communication and efficiency on construction projects.

BIW's Information Channel is the UK construction industry's leading project collaboration system, currently used by 4,600 people on over 300 projects nationwide. The Channel helps to capture all the technical information associated with a building project. The client can then use the Channel to operate and maintain its facility more efficiently and, with repeated use, to promote continuous improvement in later schemes.

Alastair Mellon, Asite's director of strategy and development, said:

"Project collaboration is becoming a standard part of today's construction industry practice and is a key to achieving the sort of increased efficiencies called for by the Egan Report. Asite's strategy is to deploy a tool kit of leading technologies for our clients and we have chosen BIW's Information Channel as our first collaborative tool provider for two main reasons: the service's proven performance and its quality of delivery."

Colin Smith, chief executive of BIW, said:

"Once launched, Asite will be a major player in the construction industry community, so our partnership with them will be important to us as it broadens the reach of our product and puts us in front of potential clients. Asite's clients will especially benefit from time and cost savings that the Information Channel offers."

Notes for Editors:

• Asite was launched in October 2000 by Stanhope plc, Rotch Property Group, Aurora (the KKR partner fund with technology partners) through PremiSys Technology plc, Microsoft, Commerce One, Compaq, Intel, Dynamis Solutions, Attenda, Glue and Aspect Internet to provide the central information hub for the entire construction community from architects to material manufacturers and from trade contractors to facilities managers.
• Using a unique tool kit, Asite plans to unlock value by coordinating information about multiple projects, analysing and allocating that information to one of seven marketplaces where buyers and sellers can be optimally matched. It will enable companies to introduce greater operational efficiencies and to standardise systems.
• The construction industry in Europe accounts for approximately 10% of European GDP (£540 billion) and employs over eight million people. Five European countries - Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK - account for 73% of this market, with the UK alone accounting for at least £62 billion.
• Building Information Warehouse (BIW) provides information technology services and solutions to the AEC (architectural, engineering and construction) community. Since the 1994 Latham report recommended improved coordination of project information, BIW has been moving towards that objective. An application service provider, it is working with clients, contractors, consultants, academics and industry organisations to develop tools such as the Information Channel, already used on some 200 Sainsbury projects.
  http://www.thebiw.com.
• BIW Information Channel is a communications platform designed to manage information from the earliest conceptual design stages of a construction project right through to operation and maintenance - and even demolition - of the finished facility. Based around a knowledge database, secure, project-specific websites are created, through which every authorised project team member can access all project data. As a web-based application, there is no requirement to use any particular hardware or software, only a standard Internet browser.